Messages

1

Dwilight / Re: Noble density per realm - Dwilight

« on: April 12, 2014, 05:49:22 AM »

I'm sorry, but this just doesn't make any sense.

Sure, you may find being a knight boring. But there's more to do as a knight now than there has been at any other time in BattleMaster's history, including the peak of our growth around six years ago.

That said, I do want to make all aspects of the game, especially being a knight, more interesting and fun. The way I'm planning to do that right now is to make war more prevalent and less frustrating.

Just saying that just because there's more to do as a knight now doesn't mean that it's fun. Also, text based browser games have been on a steep decline for the last 6 years.

Maybe people just don't want to play Battlemaster anymore, and that's why new players don't want to stick around. They join, see this unappealing interface with no pretty pictures for instant gratification, look at a pixelly map from a game that was made at least a decade ago with blobs of nations that have strange names. Then, as a knight, they are greeted with a host of things they CAN'T do. Want to change class? Nope. Want to recruit a large force? Nope. Want to run for election? Nope. Want to be a lord? Nope.

The only reason I stuck around is because I enjoy roleplaying, and I assumed that the game would get better when I became a lord, which I assumed would happen right when I got the necessary amount of prestige. I got the necessary amount of prestige, became a lord, then had fun with the game. However, I have a high tolerance for games that looks unappealing (I found out about the game on the Dwarf Fortress forums). Many others don't, so they join, realize that they won't get any instant gratification from this game, and then they leave and forget all about the game.

Honestly? I think new player retention could be helped by making the game not look so Web 1.0, and overhauling the interface. Also, a mobile version of the game would help hugely.

But I don't expect these things to happen. They're not going to happen. So people will continue to join, see an extremely outdated looking webpage and leave for greener pastures while the old players hang around and continue their circlejerk about how great the game was in 2008 and 2009.

You know, I think if this monster nonsense hadn't happened, that would have driven me away soon enough. The insular attitudes, the stagnation and the nauseating amount of sentiment regarding "the good old days" which is itself a massive turn off for new players. Frankly I (and any other new player) don't give a damn about what happened before they joined, and when everyone else playing does, then it makes you feel left out. And who wants to play a multiplayer game that makes you feel left out? That's too much like the real world, and aren't video games supposed to be an escape from the real world? All I wanted to do (and all any new player really wants to do) is establish themselves in their realm and have a good time, while feeling included. If you can't foster that sense of inclusion for new players, no stopgap measure like glaciers or monster invasions will do anything to increase density, because people will always be leaving the game, you'll just have fewer and fewer people coming in.

Anyways, I'm rambling on. You are all so ingrained in your rut, and you'll just keep grinding it down until you're so deep that nobody will want to follow you down. Nothing I say will likely have any effect on your actions, or the future of this game. I hope you realize what you're doing wrong before everybody leaves and you're left with a skeleton crew of people reminiscing about the good old days.

2

BM General Discussion / Re: When will the Ice settle?

« on: April 09, 2014, 01:01:33 AM »

I agree with most of this, but I feel that the actions being taken with Dwilight will have the opposite affect. Once all the movement from west to east has stopped, the politics will actually become very fossilized. The thing that allowed Dwilight to have very many isolated political interactions was the western island being separate from the eastern island.

I suppose we will have to see what happens.

And this is exactly what has happened. About 10 players from Niselur just went and joined Luria Nova without a fight, which kinda negates the whole idea of introducing conflict through migrations, wouldn't you say? Roughly another 6-10 have paused their characters or deleted them, which is just making the problem that these actions were attempting to address worse. Finally, another 6 or so have stayed behind on the west continent, presumably to die. I'd assume that they, like me, think this is a trashy mechanic that runs counter to the spirit of the game. After attempting to set up a new land in the east, I too have decided to stay and die on the west continent, because nobody in the realm who went east showed any motivation to form a new realm, and just joined the same realm the king did. So, if keeping a settlement in the west fails, that'll be the end of Battlemaster for me, and I will have ceased wasting my time on this game.

Wasting my time? Yes. Because when I started playing this a year ago, I started as Niselur. I kept one character on Dwilight, and that was it. Due to this mechanic, and players' aversion to conflict, all the time I have spent on this game in the last year is now a waste.

Forgive me if I sound trite or pissed off, but you know what? I am a little pissed, and if I sound trite, maybe that means that the fact that you've heard many similar complains could in fact mean that you've made a poor decision.

Whatever, writing this won't change anything. It won't stop the monster invasion. The devs won't have a change of heart, and realize that taking away the western sub-continent removes the last thing that made Dwilight special. I'll just keep counting the days until my character is finally offed by the hordes of monsters. Thanks for some fun times Battlemaster and Niselur, I won't miss what you've become.

3

Dwilight / Re: Any bets on realms capsizing?

« on: March 03, 2014, 07:24:45 AM »

Indirik does have the right of it, but not everybody is as carefree about losing their character/realm because of an arbitrary event that doesn't fit the spirit of the game. If some people decide to leave because of it, that's their decision, because something they invested hours upon hours into has now been destroyed arbitrarily.

4

BM General Discussion / Re: T Minus 28 Days

« on: March 03, 2014, 07:19:05 AM »

Yeah, but that goes for realms as much as islands. Some people will have put 99.9% of their BM time into a particular realm they like, and they'll quit if it goes under in a way they consider to be unfair. I know this to be true because over the weekend some people have told me they'll do exactly that if the particular realm they like is killed off due to a game event.

This echoes my sentiments perfectly. It wouldn't make sense IC to roleplay anything but fighting to the end of Niselur, but Niselur's doomed to end thanks to this event that, as I mentioned, does not fit well into the spirit of the game. And frankly, once my current character (and Niselur as well) is gone, I doubt I shall stick around. Simply because I do not want to start from scratch. Call it petty if you will, but it'll kill my personal desire to play BM.

5

Dwilight / Re: Any bets on realms capsizing?

« on: March 03, 2014, 02:59:54 AM »

What a thoughtful and mature response...especially coming from a dev.

Notably the dev who argueably had the largest part in this event.

6

BM General Discussion / Re: T Minus 28 Days

« on: March 03, 2014, 01:49:42 AM »

Maybe the realms of Asylon, Niselur and Barca should organise the emigration together, as it will be hard enough as it is?

I'm of half a mind to attempt to call the three of us together to organise a spirited defence of a specific part of the western island under a new banner... The United Kingdoms of Western Dwilight, or something of the sort. However, I feel like the devs are too intent on clearing Western Dwilight that it would all be for naught.

7

BM General Discussion / Re: T Minus 28 Days

« on: March 03, 2014, 12:50:55 AM »

Honestly, I think that reverting the western continent of Dwilight to the monsters is going to have a much more negative effect than you think it will. You realize that most of the newer players that are starting to enjoy the game are in places like Asylon, Barca, and Nivemus, while the east is completely dominated by the old elite?  Barca is pretty much the one thing keeping me in this game, and I've seen more roleplay going on in that realm than any other that I've been in for the past three years. Besides that, the way Dwilight was split into two continents is what made it special. In this way, you could be assured that one realm couldn't possibly control the politics of the whole island. Compare that to Atamara, East Island, or Far East Island. Atamara has the Caligan Empire, East Island has Perdan, Far East Island has Arcaea. The politics of those islands revolve entirely on those realms, which leads to rather boring, stagnant, linear diplomacy and wars.

Compare that to Dwilight. We have the war between Asylon, Nivemus, and the SA bloc that just finished, and at the same time, we had a war going on with Barca, D'Hara, and Fissoa facing off against Luria Nova. These wars were completely independent of each other, and both involved relatively equal sides. Tell me the last time you saw that? On Atamara, the CE, if it so chose, could intervene in any conflict with relative ease. The same with Perdan or Arcaea. If we were to take away one of Dwilight's continents, what do you think would happen? It would just become another Atamara.

This is my opinion as well. Taking down Western Dwilight to a dull mechanic like enforced massive monster spawns strikes me as an imperfect solution, entirely unfitting with the tone of the game. BattleMaster encourages us to roleplay, and to create our own history. Hell, the main selling point of the game is its vast user created history. The devs have said that there's next to no way that we can fight them off, which I think is a less than optimal solution, considering that western Dwilight is much more interesting than Eastern at the moment.

I'm part of Niselur, and basically, we're forced to either run off towards Eastern Dwilight (which isn't optimal due to the amount of men we'll lose fighting rogues along the way, plus Morek is so entrenched, it'd be hard for us to remain Niselur with the current game mechanics) or remain in Niselur and die, no matter what we do. I don't know, the forced nature of this event doesn't fit with the spirit of the game in my opinion. And really, I joined Battlemaster as Niselur, because the realm (and game) sounded like it would interest me, from what someone said on another forum. And I've enjoyed it quite a lot over the last year I've been playing. But to almost assuredly lose Niselur to something we have no control over? I don't know, it really takes away my desire to continue playing.

If the devs arbitrarily enforce massive monster spawns on Western Dwilight after the migration, which don't even remotely allow recolonization, I sincerely doubt I'll be sticking around at all.